LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They’ve allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit.”
President Barack Obama, blaming Republicans for broad spending reductions and any damage that they inflict Article, 1A
Military to keep after WikiLeaks GI
FORT MEADE, Md. - Military prosecutors announced Friday that they had decided to try Pfc. Bradley Manning on the most serious charges they have brought against him and seek a sentence that could be life without parole, despite his voluntary guilty plea to 10 lesser charges that carry a maximum total sentence of 20 years.
Manning admitted in court Thursday that he had provided about 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks in the most extensive leak of confidential and classified material in U.S. history. But he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges in what is known as a “naked plea” - one made without the usual agreement with prosecutors to cap the potential sentence in return.
After the plea, prosecutors and their boss, the commanding general of the Washington Military District, had the option of settling for the 10 charges to which he had admitted his guilt and proceeding directly to sentencing.
Instead, they said they would continue with plans for a court-martial beginning June 3, with 141 prosecution witnesses scheduled to testify.
The military prosecutors’ statement said they would seek to prove all the charges to which Manning pleaded innocent.
Mars-rover kink puts work on hold
PASADENA, Calif. - Science experiments by the NASA Mars rover Curiosity have been put on hold as engineers troubleshoot a problem with its computer.
NASA said the car-size rover is in “safe mode.” In this state, Curiosity suspends science activities but is still in contact with Earth.
Engineers discovered a problem with Curiosity’s flash memory earlier this week and switched to its backup computer.
Curiosity landed last summer in Gale Crater near the Martian equator to examine whether environmental conditions were favorable for microbes. It recently drilled into a rock and transferred a pinch of powder to its onboard laboratories to study the chemical makeup. It won’t be able to finish the analysis until its systems are back to normal.
Texans: Adoptee’s death accidental
ODESSA, Texas - The death of a 3-year-old adopted Russian boy has been ruled an accident by West Texas authorities, but officials said Friday they are still investigating the case, which has become a flash point in the debate over international adoption.
Four doctors reviewed the autopsy report and agreed that Max Shatto’s death on Jan. 21 was not intentional, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson and District Attorney Bobby Bland said.
Preliminary autopsy results had indicated that Max had bruises on several parts of his body, but Bland said Friday that those bruises appeared to be self-inflicted.
Alan and Laura Shatto adopted Max, born Maxim Kuzmin, and his half-brother, 2-year-old Kristopher, from an orphanage in western Russia last fall.
Laura Shatto told authorities she found Max unresponsive outside their Gardendale, Texas, home while he was playing with his younger brother. The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 03/02/2013